Hospital Stay

The rest of my hospital stay goes by so quickly.  I alternate between moments of extreme panic and serene calm.  I try and get rest when I can and listen to my instincts re looking after the Mushroom.  Thankfully there's no horrid nurses or Doctor's telling me that I'm doing this wrong or that wrong and the consensus seems to be go with your gut.  If Mushroom is crying and trying to shove his fist in his mouth, he's probably hungry (go figure) so try and feed him.  Still upset, wet nappy?  Still upset, cuddles and try feeding him again. It doesn't seem like rocket science to me.  It's not until late Wednesday afternoon that a midwife makes mention of waking him up to feed...  and I'm like what?  Apparently you should be waking your newborn every 3 to 4 hours to feed.  No-one  has told me this before so I start taking note of the time that he feeds and try to do that.  Reality is quickly sinking in.  Getting myself up so regularly is freakin hard.  My lower abdomen is really sore.  Like really.   I think about what my vjj would be hurting like if I'd managed to deliver naturally and this is a minor consolation.

Aside from the waking to feed thing, our Mushroom is doing really well.  Apparently.  I have no idea but everyone keeps telling me that he is.  I'm really worried about his skin as he was born with baby acne, and it looks worse and worse.  I'm thinking that there's no possible way a 2 day old baby can have acne but apparently it's the real deal!  A midwife sees my concern and gets the Doc to come check him out and make sure it's nothing more serious.  On advice from the Ped and a lovely midwife, I just have to squirt some boobie juice onto his face and rub it in, and that'll clear it right up.  Juffin has already googled and told me this information but it's always good to hear from the professionals as something about squirting milk from my breast directly onto my newborn son's face sounded akin to Juffin's idea of amusement.  "Look at Jess the human milk hose!"  Chump.  It already looks better by Wednesday evening.

As my time in hospital goes on, I start to feel much more confident.  Perhaps I can actually do this motherhood thing after all.  Mushroom seems to be relatively easy going for a baby.  Though have nothing to compare it to so who knows?  Basically he doesn't do too much crying or carrying on so that has to be a good thing!  We have the first bath time in hospital with Juffin at the helm.  Mushroom gets his ears tested, a big fat pass, he has some injections and barely crys, tough nut, and because things are going so well, I tentatively put forward to the staff that I might be ready to go home the next day.

Reasons for this include:  It's getting easier to get around... yes, it's true that the bed is electronically able to push me from laying to sitting, which is kind of cheating I guess, but you know what I mean.  I can stand up by myself and even go to the toilet... huzzah!  Mushroom and I seem to be getting the hang of the breastfeeding thing, though my milk is not in yet and, although mega awesomeness, I'm still all alone in my room, who know's how long that will last?!

To make matters worse, Juffin has been busy at home washing all the Mushroom's new outfits, moving our bedroom around to accommodate me and putting the car seat in the car.  I feel so helpless as every time he visits the hospital he has more to do and I wish that I could help.  The hardest part about this whole thing, aside from being cut open and all that jazz,  is not having Juffin there all the time and being away from him.  I just want to get home, get into a routine, have Juffin included.

On Thursday morning the Midwife on duty advises that they'll try and have me out of there that afternoon but there's a mass exodus so have to be patient.  I'm so ready and sure enough, by 5pm we're going home!!

Hearing test - passed with flying colours!  

Next time:  We're home, we're all alone... now what?!